Review: Man Of Steel

Starring: Henry Cavill, Russell Crowe, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon
Director: Zack Snyder

In a few words...: A reboot of the Superman franchise, in the vein of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy.
 
Rating: 8/10

Beware: SPOILERS AHEAD 

 

I must confess that I wasn't aware of the critical backlash that Superman Returns received. I enjoyed that film, and was disappointing to read that Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth and Kevin Spacey would not be making return appearances. Then came news that there would be another reboot, and I was drawing comparisons with Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man franchise being kick-started again so soon after the original. I was skeptical, to say the least.

 

But having watched Zack Snyder's attempt at Superman, Man of Steel, I'm officially a convert. A big-time fan. It was many times better than Superman Returns. Snyder, the director of the bloody 300, and screenwriter David S. Goyer (Blade) and producer Christopher Nolan (director of the recent Batman trilogy) have put together a brilliant film and perhaps the best Superman effort since Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder kicked off our cinematic obsession with the other caped crusader back in the 1970s.

 

For the first time, Superman is portrayed as a loner, an outcast, someone who has had trouble fitting into a world that doesn't understand him and isn't ready to accept someone with such powers. Through well-placed flashbacks to his early days in Smallville, Kansas, which include intriguing scenes with famous characters of the Superman lore like Pete Ross and Lana Lang, we see the difficulties that Clark faces, and valuable lessons taught by his adoptive parents, sensitively portrayed by Kevin Costner and Diane Lane. The flashbacks provide necessary back story to this "new" Superman we're getting to know, for they are experiences that have made him the man he is now, in the film's present.

 

Goyer's story also takes us to Krypton, where Jor El (Australia's Russell Crowe) and his wife Lara put their infant son into a craft that will take him far from their home world, which is imploding both through over development and political angst: General Zod (Michael Shannon) orchestrates an attempted coup, is eventually captured and condemned to the Phantom Zone. Shortly thereafter, Krypton dies in one great fireball. It is spectacular visually, the first of many jaw-dropping sequences. If it's now expected in a superhero movie that a city is demolished, then Snyder succeeds beautifully, laying waste to Metropolis in the last third of the film.

 

On earth, one of the Krypton scout ships is discovered buried in the snow and ice, attracting the attention of the American military and of an intrepid reporter from the Daily Planet. Yep, Lois Lane (Amy Adams) makes her entrance grandly, and is very quickly introduced to Superman/Clark Kent, who saves her life, then disappears, and the worst thing for the newspaper scribe is that no one believes her story. Her editor, Perry White (Laurence Fishburne) refuses to print her story, worried, as he is, about how the citizens of Planet Earth might react to the knowledge that there is a so-called alien amongst them.

 

That's a recurring theme through the story: Superman and the world's trust in him. When General Zod and his cronies - predictably - escape the Phantom Zone and head for Earth, wanting Kal-El to help kick-start a new Krypton on earth, one that will unfortunately mean the destruction of the human race, at first Superman is treated in the same vein as Zod. The general makes a bargain with earth to hand over Superman. It takes time - and a great deal of destruction - for humans to understand that the man in blue and red is not the enemy, but a friend. The events of the back half of the film solidify what's at first an uneasy alliance, but one that will almost certainly grow with each new film - and you have the feeling that this is the beginning of a solid franchise.

 

Henry Cavill plays Superman perfectly, balancing the chiseled all-American/superhero looks - you know, the prerequisite kind - with the right mixture of gravitas and dry humour. The British actor is an inspired choice, and has good chemistry with his father (Crowe), his love interest (Adams) and his adopted mother (Lane). His scenes with Kevin Costner are touching, too. There's some empathy, to a point, with Zod, who exists solely to restore Krypton to it's former glory, and ruthlessness, too.

 

Whilst some of the plot lines are different to the traditional Superman mythology - for example, Lois knows Clark's double identity, he isn't a reporter at the Daily Planet until the end, Perry White is African-American and there isn't a sighting, let alone a mention, of Lex Luthor - what sets this film apart from the others is it's efforts to reinvent everything, and provide a new take on an old legend. It was a brave move by Snyder, and he's made a memorable film as a result. 

 

Looking forward to the next one.